Elizabeth Berkley enriched most of our childhoods as part of the seminal 90’s series “Saved By The Bell” but her involvement with developing youths didn’t end when she graduated from Bayside High. Over the last seven years she’s been creating and perfecting Ask Elizabeth — a community for young women that began as a website and has now spawned an advice book.

But this isn’t some vanity project where Elizabeth purports to have all the answers — instead she acts as the intermediary, connecting groups of girls and giving them a shared experience. I caught up with Elizabeth at SIRIUS XM’s studios yesterday to talk about this project and how “Saved By The Bell” played an integral role in its development.

PopWrap: How was the genesis for Ask Elizabeth?

Elizabeth Berkley: I had been looking for something that I could align with to be of service to girls this age – I’ve had a sensitivity to this kind of time in a girls life because I feel they’re not being served. We always hear about all the problems with teenage girls in the media, but I didn’t see anyone giving them a solution or tools. It’s funny because “Saved By the Bell” started in syndication about seven years ago and girls just started coming up to me — I guess it’s because they’re seeing me at 15, so there was this instant comfort. I was interested in giving them more than an autograph or a picture.

PW: What took it from an idea to a reality?

Elizabeth: I think sometimes we limit ourselves to a single path. My godmother passed away six years ago and that was the catalyst – she was a mentor to me and in her passing I realized that instead of wanting to help, it was time to take action. So I started facilitating a self-esteem based workshop to give girls a safe place to feel heard, to ask the questions they’ve been afraid to ask and to give them a forum to help one another – this has never been about me professing to have all the answers. I don’t stand and lecture them, it’s a very organic, shared dialogue in the name of helping other girls. It’s the most meaningful project I’ve ever been a part of.

Elizabeth: I’ve had advice that’s not great – if I’ve listened to it, then I got a great lesson out of it. Not to sound like one of those people, but I don’t believe things are mistakes if you look at what they’re trying to show you. Those, in a way, are the real gifts.

PW: You mentioned that in some ways “Saved By The Bell” provided the catalyst for this idea to take shape — are you surprised by the show’s endurance?

Elizabeth: It doesn’t surprise me – it’s been consistent in many ways. It’s the show that never went away [laughs] which is actually quite fun. How many people have their entire adolescence on film? I’m grateful to the show – it was my beginning and it gave me such a great start. Often in Hollywood as a young teen, you’re the only one on a set, so to work with my peers was such a healthy way of working. Even though we grew up a little faster because we were professionals, we were allowed to be kids together.

PW: Do you have any favorite memories from making the show?

Elizabeth: On Friday nights, after we taped with the live audience – which was like a pep rally – we would go to dinner together. That was really sweet. We have a lot of fun shared memories from that time. It’s why, when I go to the girls schools, I don’t impose a structure. I want them to make a memory for themselves. Whatever they want that dynamic to be, whatever questions they want to ask, it becomes a special and an honest exchange.

PW: Do you think Jessie Spano was a good role model for women?

Elizabeth: She was! Jessie was strong, smart, was very determined to succeed – as we saw in the I’m So Excited caffeine pills episode — and not afraid to speak up and be heard. I think a lot of girls in today’s culture are raised to be people pleasers – to make others happy, sometimes at the expense of our own happiness or values or what we know.

PW: What is the one message you hope girls take away from Ask Elizabeth?

Elizabeth: One of the biggest things is that I hope they now know they’re not alone. That kind of comfort gives them permission to feel liberated. If there’s been suffering, they can always know that they’re connected to a group of women. It’s the first time a lot of the girls have felt like another girl can have their back, which is so unheard of. We hear so much about the negative – this is like the antidote to that.

For more information on “Ask Elizabeth,” click here and Elizabeth Berkley’s interview will air during “The Entertainment 4-1-1 with Nicole from The Morning Mash Up” on Sirius XM Hits 1 on Wednesday, March 23 starting at 1:00 pm ET.